Grass management is the order of the day at the moment. A number of fields have been topped here lately as the covers were a bit on the high side before the ewes went in to graze them.

I could have forced the ewes and lambs to graze them out better before moving them on but I considered that this would only penalise the lambs’ performance, which is the last thing I want to do.

Grass growth has remained strong here lately, mostly helped by the occasional rain shower and sunshine. Growth is currently around 73kg DM/ha, giving me a nearly ideal balance between growth and demand, which is 63kg DM/ha at present.

The winter stores have been more than filled at this stage in regards to silage, with over 100 more bales made than all of last year. A number of fields have been closed up to supply additional silage for sale and I hope to get some good weather in July to make some hay for the lambing pens next spring.

We are starting to wean the ewes and lambs this week with the CPT mobs. I am delaying weaning the natural service ewes for another while as there is a good number of lambs nearly ready for the factory but as they are still in the withdrawal period from the dipping, I cannot sell them just yet. I find managing the stock from now on a lot easier as lambs are divided into four groups, with ewes and the heifers following around behind cleaning out the paddocks.

The groups are made up as follows. I divide the male and female lambs into two separate groups. These are then divided by their weight, with the heavier male lambs put on the redstart while the other groups will be on grass. First thing after weaning, I will pull out and cull any ewes with broken mouths, problem udders and those that have received a double notch in their ear since last year. Any ewes that are lame will be removed and put into a separate group for treatment. Any that don’t respond favourably will also be culled from the system. Once these ewes are identified, I will then have a better idea of how many replacements are required for the coming season.

The group of heavy ewe lambs will be where I select my replacements from. Information such as litter size, birth weight and average daily gain from their lambing to weaning will be used to select these. Any of the ewe lambs suitable for breeding which are surplus to my requirements will be sold to a number of repeat customers.

Alarm bells

On another note, a word of warning to you all. I have been due a VAT refund and have been keeping an eye out for it. I received a message supposedly from Revenue. As I had been anticipating correspondence this impromptu message almost had me fooled.

Thankfully when they requested my bank details the alarm bells sounded. It is getting increasingly difficult to keep ahead of these unscrupulous criminals and unfortunately there is probably someone out there who may have been caught out.

The timing of these messages is also concerning as they seem to be well versed on our activities. It is important that we are vigilant and keep reporting these matters. Hopefully it will help prevent anyone else falling foul of these cons.

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Farmer Writes: closing fields for silage and spreading fertiliser

Farmer Writes: rain and heifers are welcomed